Desperately seeking a wake-up call: Bob Chesney, UCLA
Desperately seeking a P.R. man: Billy Napier, James Madison
Desperately seeking sunglasses and a fake beard: Kirby Smart, Georgia
Desperately seeking … anything: Steve Sarkisian, Texas
TEAMS Thought you’d kick butt, you did: Texas A&M (defeated The Citadel 41-0)
Thought you’d kick butt, you didn’t: Northwestern (defeated Michigan State 24-21) Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you did: Kent State (lost to South Florida 29-2)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you didn’t: Michigan State (lost to No. 25 Northwestern 24-21)
Thought you wouldn’t kick butt, you did: Army (defeated Florida Atlantic 56-24)
Dang, they’re good: Ohio State Dang, they’re bad: Kent State
Can’t Stand Prosperity: Georgia
Did the season start? Texas Can the season end? Washington State
Can the season never end? BYU
GAMES Play this again: No. 8 BYU 28, No. 2 Notre Dame 24
Play this again, too: No. 4 Ohio State 19, No. 5 Indiana 15
Never play this again: Texas A&M 41, The Citadel 0
What? No. 14 Tennessee 26, No. 6 Alabama 10
Huh? Florida 27, No. 7 Texas 24
Are you kidding me?? No. 8 BYU 28, No. 2 Notre Dame 24
Oh – my – God: Auburn 27, No. 1 Georgia 24
NEXT WEEK
rankings are current AP (week 8) Ticket to die for: No. 7 Ole Miss @ No. 19 Texas*
Best non-Power Four vs. Power Four matchup: none
Best non-Power Four matchup: Western Michigan @ Toledo
Defensive struggle: New Mexico State @ Sam Houston
Great game no one is talking about: Virginia Tech @ Clemson
Intriguing coaching matchup: Dan Lanning of Oregon vs Bret Bielema of Illinois
Who’s bringing the body bags? Liberty @ Kennesaw State
Why are they playing? N/A
Plenty of good seats remaining: Hawaii @ Northern Illinois
They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? Missouri State @ Delaware
Week 7 Thoughts:
Today was an historic day for top-ten losses. For the first time in more than 5,000 days, both the number-one and number-two teams lost their respective games. If that is not enough, other top-ten teams lost as well, not only Georgia, but also Texas and Alabama. The last time that all three of those teams lost on the same day was Oct. 26, 1996, almost 30 years to the day.
In the process were some thrilling games, and others with improbable outcomes. An example of the latter was the Florida game at Texas, where the Longhorns led for most of the game, only to have zero offensive output for most of the second half, save for a quick drive late in the fourth with a touchdown made possible by a beautiful, long pass from Arch Manning, who then fumbled on the last drive to essentially seal the deal for the Gators. For the second week in a row, the Longhorns improbably gave the game away, in part due to anemic second half offensive performances.
To break it down further: Texas currently depends too much on Arch Manning while neglecting their running game. Worse yet, Manning is clearly over-coached, to the point of him appearing to be caught in an invisible straightjacket. Add late-game turnovers on top of that, and you have the Horns’ current death spiral. Needless to say, Steve Sarkisian has coach his way onto a burned orange hot seat.
Speaking of improbable losses, what to make of Georgia’s head-scratching loss to Auburn at home? While Kirby Smart owned up to his team getting out-played during the post-game presser, in hindsight, this was a trap game for the Bulldogs, who just came off a massive win on the road over Alabama, only to be caught in the Oldest Rivalry of the Deep South the following week. Welcome to the stupefying vicissitudes of college football.
Meanwhile, Ohio State was able to settle a major score with Indiana, in Bloomington no less, but it came at the cost of QB Julian Sayin being knocked out of competition for several weeks, making the Buckeye’s victory a Pyrrhic one.
As things developed, ABC Sports was wise to schedule the Notre Dame @ BYU game in the evening. Speaking of which, even though I had listed the Ohio State-Indiana game as the “Ticket to die for”, this game also qualified as such. The matchup was a classic one of heart vs talent, with the outcome being one of the relatively rare instances when heart won the day/night. This massive win for the Cougars amounted to the biggest regular season victory in the history of the program. Only the 1984 Holliday Bowl triumph, securing BYU’s only national title to date, could be considered greater. Such a victory has surely put the rest of the college football world on notice, proving that the Cougars can hang with the heavyweights, at least for this year.
After such a monster week for some big games, let us now brace for the let-down. Next week’s slate of games will not be as good. But then again, they can’t all be winners.
Random Thoughts:
Last week’s supposed/predicted offensive explosion turned out to be quite the one-side affair, 31-3 in favor of Ole Miss, with Missouri’s offense deciding to take a bye week without telling the rest of the team. Aside from the anomalous Texas State over Colorado State 66-27, a closer offensive explosion in reality turned out to be West Virginia over Cincinnati, 45-42, no overtime involved. An honorable mention would be Army over Florida Atlantic 56-24. Evidently, the Fighting Schellenbergers did not bring much fight with them to this week’s game.
Along the lines of trap games (see: Auburn’s massive upset over Georgia), keep an eye on BYU venturing to Central Florida next week. The Golden Knights’ record is nothing to right home about, but always beware of teams going on the road after an historically emotional win.
*The rationale for this game’s designation is twofold. A) it’s a down week. Georgia, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Nebraska, Penn State, Louisville, Wake Forest, Florida and many others have byes for Week 8. B) like a trainwreck, you cannot not look away.
Desperately seeking a wake-up call: Lincoln Riley, USC
Desperately seeking a P.R. man: Chuck Martin, Miami (OH)
Desperately seeking sunglasses and a fake beard: Deion Sanders, Colorado
Desperately seeking … anything: Jake Dickert, Washington State
TEAMS Thought you’d kick butt, you did: Penn State (defeated UMass 63-0)
Thought you’d kick butt, you didn’t: Colorado (lost to Stanford 46-43) Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you did: Purdue (lost to No.3 Ohio State 41-7)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you didn’t: Illinois (defeated Maryland 27-24)
Thought you wouldn’t kick butt, you did: Georgia (defeated No. 20 Kentucky 51-13)
Dang, they’re good: Penn State Dang, they’re bad: Ball State
Can’t Stand Prosperity: Louisville
Did the season start? Colorado Can the season end? Kent State
Can the season never end? Washington
GAMES Play this again: No. 7 Washington 36, No. 8 Oregon 33
Never play this again: No. 6 Penn State 63, UMass 0
What? Arizona 44, No. 19 Washington State 6
Huh? Pitt 38, No. 14 Louisville 21
Are you kidding me?? No. 21 Notre Dame 48, No. 10 USC 20
Oh – my – God: Stanford 46, Colorado 43 (2 OT)
NEXT WEEK
rankings are current AP (week 8) Ticket to die for: No. 7 Penn State @ No. 3 Ohio State
Best non-Power Five vs. Power Five matchup: (none)
Great game no one is talking about: Marshall @ Georgia State
Intriguing coaching matchup: Lane Kiffin of Ole Miss vs Hugh Freeze of Auburn
Who’s bringing the body bags? Virginia @ No. 10 North Carolina
Why are they playing? Army @ No. 19 LSU
Plenty of good seats remaining: Charlotte @ East Carolina
They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? Toledo @ Miami (OH)
Week 7 Thoughts:
Washington vs Oregon
When was the last time we got excited about a regular season Pac-12 game? It has been close to two decades. This game pitted two potential playoff contenders against each other. With that much on the line, and talent to spare on both sides of the ball, that typically adds up to a good game.
It did not disappoint. Big plays and high drama abounded, and the game remained close throughout the 60 minutes. One takeaway? Michael Penix Jr. of Washington emerged as the better QB over Oregon’s Bo Nix, who is still very good.
Now that UW has clawed its way up to the No. 5 ranking, can it stay there? Its last four games are against USC, Utah, Oregon State, and Washington State, all presenting their own unique challenges. Let the real games begin.
Notre Dame vs USC
The big takeaway from this game is, USC is not as good as we thought they were, and ND is not as overrated as we thought they were. The Trojans still have not figured out this new thing called a defense, and their offensive business model revolves around exhorting Caleb Williams to go out and create plays out of thin air. Obviously, such a weak business model does not a national championship-caliber team make, and shame on Lincoln Riley for not making these key improvements.
Looking ahead to Week 8:
Ohio State vs. Penn State
Last week, there was hardly a competitive game on at noon. Not this time.
Another epic Big Ten showdown, in Ohio Stadium (the Holy Grail of football for the Midwest, bar none), no less. Better yet, it’s at noon EDT on FOX (meaning, Gus and Joel are on the call). Buckle up.
Alabama vs Tennessee
The Volunteers have been in slow recovery mode since their embarrassing (and frankly, head-scratching) loss at Florida. But now an even bigger, tougher test emerges.
Florida State vs Duke
Duke lost a heartbreaker to Notre Dame just a couple of weeks ago. Now they have an even tougher challenge to face, on the road, no less. We know that they are good. This game will tell us exactly how good (or limited) they are.
USC vs Utah
The classic matchup of an explosive offense meeting a tough defense. Which will win out?
Rivalry games that are anything but this year:
This might include Iowa vs Minnesota. Inexplicably, the Hawkeyes are 6-1 despite having zero offense, while the Gophers are only 3-3. The latter’s mediocre record appears just that, but in reality, the team looks like they are hanging by a thread. Sure, the teams are playing for the Floyd of Rosedale, but can this rivalry dynamic overcome Minnesota’s woes against a stubborn Iowa defense?
Conversely, there is Michigan vs. Michigan State. Historically a big brother vs little brother affair with little brother sometimes besting his seemingly larger sibling, This time, however, it seems as though the former is a giant about to crush a Lilliputian in the latter, who is in a self-inflicted state of disarray.
